- JIT directed to discard letters if Qatari royal fails to appear in person
The two letters from Prince Hammad Bin Jassim are under the scrutiny of the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) in which the Qatar’s royal has admitted a 12 million Dirhams deal between his father Jasim Bin Muhammad Al Thani and the late Mian Muhammad Sharif in real estate business.
The first letter presented on November 5, 2016, says that in the year 2006 the accounts in relation to the above investment were settled between Hussain Nawaz and Al Thani family. The second letter presented on January 26, 2017, aims to address unanswered queries from the first letter.
During the hearing of special bench of the Supreme Court on May 29, JIT head Wajid Zia informed the judges that Prince Hammad has been informed through a special messenger to appear before the JIT. However, there is no response from the Qatari royal. On hearing this, Justice Ejaz Afzal Khan, who is heading the three-member bench, remarked that the letter should be discarded if he would not appear before the investigators.
“I think if JIT decides to discard the Qatari letter, it will have adverse and long-term effects on Sharif family,” Wajihuddin Ahmed, a former senior Supreme Court judge, said about the consequences if the Qatari letters get thrown out by the investigators. He said that the observation was principally right, as the document that establishes money trail of four London flats was based on these two Qatari letters.
“According to Qanoon-e-Shahadat, a person who is the creator of a document, he or she has to produce himself before the court or relevant authorities and own it up and answer the queries related to the document,” he said. When asked whether the Qatari prince is bound by the court or JIT’s direction, he said the court or the investigators have nothing to do with it, the issue was for that family who has presented this document.
“They (the Sharif family) have to prove it if they are relying on these documents,” he said. Majid Bashir, a senior Supreme Court lawyer, clearly said that the Qatari royal was not bound by the orders of the Supreme Court and the Joint Investigation Team. He said that the court can send a commission to record a statement of some foreign national in order to meet the ends of justice.
However, “the basic norms of diplomacy are such that the individual concerned visits the high commission or embassy, records his statement, stamps and signs it,” he said. He also said that whatever correspondence was needed or required, it has to be done within the parameters of Mutual Legal Assistance (MLA) agreed upon by the states.
“They [JIT] should put their questions, rather than seek glory by demanding the physical presence of foreigners,” the lawyer said and emphasised that the apex court and JIT should seek the assistance of Qatar’s government to verify the claims made in both the letters through Foreign Office. “I am neither following the case nor am I interested in the goings on,” said Asma Jehangir, a senior lawyer.
“As I solemnly believe the whole exercise is illegal. The whole matter is political and there is hardly anything of substance in it,” she said.
